What is chronic gastritis?
When it comes to chronic gastritis, most people have heard of it, and some may even think that “nine out of ten people have gastritis”, so it’s just a matter of burping and farting, which doesn’t delay eating and drinking.
The most common type of gastric disease is chronic gastric mucosal inflammation. 80% to 90% of people who have a gastroscopy in the hospital have varying degrees of chronic gastric mucosal inflammation.
Chronic gastritis has a long course, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes light, repeatedly. If you have chronic gastritis, you will always have abdominal pain, bloating and other gastrointestinal discomfort, and you will not be able to eat normally, which is painful; if you have chronic gastritis, you will suffer from malnutrition, anemia, gastrointestinal bleeding, and a few people will develop gastric cancer.
What discomfort do chronic gastritis patients often experience?
Patients with milder conditions often experience the following discomfort. However, not all of the following symptoms may be present in every patient, and some patients may have none or only one or two of them.
Upper abdominal discomfort or pain. This discomfort is often difficult to describe and the pain varies in severity, but it is mostly related to eating and can also be aggravated by cold weather, poor mood, irregularity, etc.
Epigastric distention. It can be related to eating or not, but mostly relieves after ambiguous gas (burping) or farting. Bloating can also be aggravated or alleviated by hot or cold weather, good or bad moods, and changes in living and eating.
Decrease in diet. You may not want to eat or be afraid to eat more because of increased stomach discomfort after eating.
Chest and back pain. Some patients often experience back pain or back discomfort.
Constipation. Most patients will have dry stools; however, some have large, mushy stools.
Knowledge: Inflammatory lesions of the gastric mucosa are limited to the upper 1/3 of the mucosal layer (superficial layer). Chronic gastritis is mild when there are no other pathological changes in the mucosal layer of the stomach and is medically called superficial gastritis.
Patients who are more ill or have a longer course of the disease may also have the following symptoms.
Weight loss. Weight loss, general lack of energy, anemia, and pallor, dizziness, panic, and insomnia caused by anemia may occur due to prolonged failure to eat properly.
Nausea and vomiting.
Bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract, so black stools may occur, and sometimes vomiting of blood may occur.
Related Knowledge:
Chronic atrophic gastritis belongs to a category of pathological manifestations of chronic gastritis, which is mainly a lesion in which glandular atrophy and hypersecretion occurs after repeated damage to the gastric mucosa.
Why is gastroscopy and pathological examination necessary for the diagnosis of chronic gastritis?
After gastroscopy and pathological examination, it is possible to confirm the diagnosis of chronic gastritis and to determine whether it is superficial gastritis or chronic atrophic gastritis, and whether pathological changes such as intestinal epithelial hyperplasia or atypical hyperplasia occur.
During gastroscopy, the doctor delivers the gastroscope into the stomach through the patient’s mouth and observes changes in the gastric mucosa with the naked eye. Based on the observed lesions, it is possible to determine whether the patient has chronic gastritis, in addition to the extent, characteristics and type of inflammation of the gastric mucosa.
During the gastroscopy, the doctor will clamp out 3 to 4 pieces of gastric mucosal tissue for pathological examination. This can not only further confirm whether the patient has chronic gastritis, but also determine the characteristics and types of gastric mucosal inflammation, as well as determine whether the patient has precancerous lesions of gastric cancer.
Related knowledge.
In patients with chronic atrophic gastritis for a long time, gastric mucosal cells will undergo changes of intestinal epithelial chemosis and heterogeneous hyperplasia, of which heterogeneous hyperplasia is a precancerous lesion of gastric cancer. Pathological examination can observe intestinal epithelial hyperplasia and heterotypic hyperplasia of gastric mucosal cells.
Why do I need H. pylori test when I suspect chronic gastritis?
More than 70% of patients with chronic gastritis have H. pylori infection. If H. pylori infection is diagnosed, the doctor can give the patient medication to eradicate H. pylori as needed.
What about those who are not candidates for gastroscopy?
Important: Many patients want to confirm chronic gastritis through ultrasound, but so far, ultrasound is not used to confirm chronic gastritis.
Not everyone is a good candidate for gastroscopy. Patients who are not suitable for gastroscopy can have a barium contrast of the upper gastrointestinal tract to understand the morphology of the gastric mucosa. However, this test cannot determine the type and extent of the lesions in chronic gastritis, nor can the gastric mucosa be taken for pathological examination.
Do antibiotics work to treat chronic gastritis?
Some cases of chronic gastritis are associated with H. pylori infection and can be treated with antibiotics, but often require the combination of several drugs, such as the combination of loxacillin, amoxicillin and clarithromycin. However, chronic gastritis is not caused by a bacterial infection, and antibiotics will not be useful in these patients.
What medications can relieve the symptoms of patients with chronic gastritis?
There are a number of medications that your doctor will use on a case-by-case basis to relieve the symptoms of patients with chronic gastritis.
Motility drugs Use morpholine, mosapride and other drugs that enhance peristalsis to relieve gastric distention.
Digestive aids Use digestive aids such as Baohe Pills and Shanzha Pills to increase appetite.
Stomach acid suppressants Use drugs such as ranitidine, Tegretol, and flatulence to relieve pain and burning sensation in the upper abdomen caused by stomach acid.
Why should I use medicines to protect the gastric mucosa?
Patients with chronic gastritis often have damage to the gastric mucosa, so doctors will put patients on medications that protect the gastric mucosa. These drugs stimulate mucus secretion in the gastric mucosa and promote the growth of mucosal cells. Commonly used drugs include Lizudra, Gastrin, Aluminum Thioglycollate, Gastrin, and Magnesium Aluminum Carbonate.
Is Chinese medicine useful for treating chronic gastritis?
It has been proven that Chinese medicine has a definite effect on chronic gastritis, and many patients who have no obvious effect by western medicine treatment, not only have their symptoms improved significantly with the addition of Chinese medicine, but also the results of gastroscopy and pathological examination have been greatly improved.
Commonly used Chinese medicines include WEN Gastric Shu, YANG Gastric Shu, Gastric Fu Chun, SANJU Gastric Tai Capsules, Gastric Su Punch, Xiang Sha Yang Gastric Pill, etc.
It should be emphasized that Chinese medicine tonics can be tailored to each patient’s specific situation, plus the tonics are more conducive to absorption, and the dosage is larger than that of ready-to-use medicines, making them more effective. It is recommended that patients with more serious illnesses take tonics, and after the symptoms improve, the doctor will choose appropriate adult medicines to complement the western medicines to consolidate the efficacy.
Does “tonic medicine” work in treating chronic gastritis?
The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to take a normal diet and are therefore weak, and they often expect to be treated with “tonic medicine” and even listen to certain advertisements and take so-called “tonic medicine”. The result is not only ineffective, but sometimes aggravates the disease. The actual fact is that you will be able to get a lot more than just a few of the most popular and popular products.
What should I pay attention to when taking medication for chronic gastritis?
It is important to cooperate with the doctor and take the medication under the doctor’s guidance, not without permission, to avoid improper use of medication, which may cause difficulties in future treatment or cause more damage to the stomach. When a drug treatment is not satisfactory, do not just change the medication on your own, you should change or add other drugs through your doctor.
The most important thing is to make sure that you have a good idea of what you are doing. Any medication needs to be taken for a considerable period of time before it can have a therapeutic effect on chronic gastritis. For example, the course of treatment for milder chronic gastritis generally takes 1 month; the course of treatment for recurrent chronic gastritis takes 3 months; the course of treatment for atrophic gastritis is often more than half a year.
The actual fact is that you can find a lot of different kinds of medications for chronic gastritis, and different medications have their own appropriate time and method of taking medication. For example, aluminum thioglycollate, nitrocholine and gastrin should be taken after meals; morpholine, mosapride and gastrin need to be taken before meals; and drugs such as gastrin and magnesium aluminum carbonate should be chewed and taken. So be sure to follow the doctor’s orders or drug instructions for medication.
The patient with chronic gastritis needs to continue to take medication after the symptoms disappear after treatment?
It’s a good idea to stop taking your medication at will. Some patients stop taking medication as soon as they feel that their stomach is not uncomfortable, and as a result, instead of being relieved from the disease, they create opportunities for the disease to develop.
The most important purpose of taking medication is to repair the damaged gastric mucosa. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who have been in the business for a long time, and they’ve been in the business for a long time.
Why should patients with chronic gastritis be reviewed regularly during treatment?
Chronic gastritis is a chronic disease that is prone to recurrence and some may develop into gastric cancer, so patients with chronic gastritis need to be reviewed regularly throughout the course of treatment, including gastroscopy and pathology if necessary. The time for review varies with the condition.
Patients with chronic atrophic gastritis should be reviewed once in the third year.
Patients with mild intestinal epithelial hyperplasia and heterogeneous hyperplasia should be reviewed once a year.
Patients with moderate or severe intestinal epithelial hyperplasia and heterotypic hyperplasia should preferably be reviewed once every 3-6 months, and if there is no tendency for progression, the interval between reviews can be extended according to medical advice.
How to arrange the diet for patients with chronic gastritis?
A proper diet is very important for patients with chronic gastritis and directly affects whether the condition improves, recovers, or recurs.
You will benefit from a diet that follows the following points
You should eat light, easily digestible and less irritating foods, avoid foods that are too oily, too sweet, too salty, too coarse and hard, and do not eat or eat less fried, baked, smoked, branded and pickled foods.
Do not overeat, develop the habit of eating 80% of each meal, a small number of meals and long-term adherence.
Eat to concentrate, do not read books, newspapers and television, because distractions are not conducive to digestion.
Eat anything chew slowly, chewing constantly can promote the secretion of digestive juices, which is conducive to food digestion.
Food temperature should be appropriate, close to body temperature (36-37 ℃) is good, usually should develop a good habit of not eating too cold, expired food.
Prohibit alcohol and quit smoking. Alcohol can cause more serious damage to the gastric mucosa; smoking can aggravate the reflux of duodenal fluid and stimulate the gastric mucosa.
Do not drink a lot of water before and during meals to avoid aggravating the stomach and diluting gastric juices, which can affect digestion.
Patients with obvious gastric distension should avoid excessive beans, soy products, cane sugar, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other foods that produce gas easily.
Promote eating more fresh vegetables and fruits.
Related knowledge: Slight spiciness can promote blood supply to the stomach, enhance stomach movement and stimulate gastric juice secretion, so you can eat some slightly spicy food, but not too spicy and not too much.
Is it good for the treatment of chronic gastritis patients to eat as little as possible?
Under the premise of scientific and reasonable diet, don’t be afraid to eat and don’t overly restrict your diet so that you can avoid nutritional deficiency and increase the resistance and repair ability of the gastric mucosa.
Some patients with chronic gastritis are overly careful about eating, or even eat only a small amount of thin rice and a few badly cooked vegetable leaves every day for fear of stomach discomfort, which results in putting themselves in a state of malnutrition. The lack of nutrition of the gastric mucosa, resistance is reduced, but more difficult to repair. It should be known that as long as the above principles are reasonably arranged diet, generally normal people eat food, chronic gastritis patients can eat, just need to be cooked a little softer.
It has been proven that even if they eat very little, those patients with small wings still feel congested and bloated, but after listening to the doctor’s advice and gradually increasing their diet and nutrition, although they eat more, the symptoms of congestion and bloating are slowly reduced.
What is the effect of keeping a happy spirit on the treatment of chronic gastritis?
The patient’s spirit and emotions have a great impact on the treatment of chronic gastritis. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to get a good deal on a lot of things.
These two types of chronic gastritis patients are not treated well, which shows that being in a bad mental state can aggravate gastric dysfunction and greatly reduce the resistance and repair ability of the gastric mucosa, affecting the therapeutic effect. The only way to get good results is to keep your spirit happy.
What else should I pay attention to in my daily life for patients with chronic gastritis?
For patients with chronic gastritis, the stomach is a very “delicate” organ, and after the condition is controlled, the disease will return if there is a slight wind. In addition to a proper diet and a happy spirit, patients with chronic gastritis should pay attention to the following points in their daily lives.
Avoid taking aspirin, painkillers and other antipyretic and analgesic drugs; when they must be taken, they should be taken after meals.
Timely treatment of pharyngitis, gingivitis, sinusitis and other oral adjacent organs with bacterial diseases.
Pay attention to the warmth of the abdomen and lower limbs when the climate becomes cold.
Ensure rest and avoid exertion.
Perform physical exercise appropriately, especially abdominal exercise, to enhance the ability of digestive tract peristalsis.
Can chronic gastritis be cured?
Whether chronic gastritis can be cured or not depends on a variety of factors.
First of all, regardless of the type of chronic gastritis, only after reasonable and standardized treatment is it possible to be cured.
Secondly, chronic gastritis is less likely to recur and may be cured only if treatment is adhered to and care is taken. The actual fact is that you will be able to get a lot more than just a few of the most popular and popular items.
Of course, different types of gastritis can be treated differently. Generally speaking, chronic gastritis with less severe lesions can be completely cured. For patients with chronic atrophic gastritis, their glandular cells have been destroyed, and the number of normal glandular cells has been reduced, so it is not easy to restore the cells to normal numbers. However, as long as regular treatment is adhered to, it is still possible to bring relief to the symptoms and prevent further development of the disease.
Even if intestinal epithelial hyperplasia and heterogeneous hyperplasia have occurred, not all of them will develop into gastric cancer. As long as the treatment is proper, intestinal epithelial hyperplasia and heterogeneous hyperplasia may be reduced or disappear.